


Roses

by Jadesfire



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-29
Updated: 2010-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-08 10:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadesfire/pseuds/Jadesfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Flowers have many meanings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roses

**Author's Note:**

> Ficlet for morgynleri

Teyla watched the last of them come into the gateroom, then she nodded to Lorne.

"I believe we are ready, Major."

"Right." His face grave, Lorne touched the crystal that opened the radio link to the Daedalus. "Colonel Cauldwell, we're ready down here."

_"Ready, Major."_

A high whistle filled the Gateroom and there was the snap of thirty people coming to attention at the same time. Teyla followed Lorne to the window, looking down to the floor below. As they watched, there was a flash of light, and the twelve body bags disappeared up to the Daedalus.

"On Earth," Lorne said, in the silence that followed, "we might have put flowers on them."

"Flowers?" Frowning, Teyla looked up at him. "I thought you gave flowers as a celebration gift."

"We do. Different flowers."

"I do not understand."

Turning away from the window, Lorne nodded for the control room personnel to stand down, then stuck his hands in his pockets. "Where I'm from on Earth, we put flowers on the graves of the dead. Like, I don't know, a gift or something like that, to say we remember them."

Understanding a little, Teyla nodded. "It is important that they are remembered. Among my people, their names are incorporated into our songs. Then we can take them with us, even when they are lost."

"That makes sense." Lorne slowly led the way towards the stairs, his hands still deep in his pockets. "At my great aunt's funeral, someone brought a huge wreath of red roses. Almost caused a fight at the graveside." Seeing her puzzlement, he added with a wry smile, "They weren't from my great uncle, and on Earth, roses are..." He broke off, twisting his mouth a little before going on, "Roses are a lover's gift."

Understanding, Teyla nodded. "It was similar when Brejar's youngest nephew forgot the name of his great-great grandmother's second husband in her service of memory. The embarrassment was so severe that his parents barely came out of their tent for a month."

"Yeah, that sounds about the same." Lorne gave a her a sidelong look. "You know, they grow something an awful lot like roses down in botany."

"Really?" Teyla smiled. "Then I shall bear in mind what you have said should anyone offer me a bouquet of them."

"You do that." As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lorne looked down the corridor towards the Gateroom. Teyla could not see his face, but she had seen John with that same, tight-shouldered posture, and she knew what he was thinking. When he spoke, his voice was laced with bitterness, so sharp that it surprised her. "We send lillies for funerals, though. Maybe I should see if botany could grow them too."

Knowing that no good could come of that train of thought, Teyla put a hand on his arm, drawing his attention back to her. "Or maybe it would be better not to."

He met her eyes for a long moment, and she tried not to look past him to where the orderlies were still clearing the last of the trolleys.

"Maybe you're right," he said eventually, not turning around. "Probably asking for trouble."

Since there was nothing she could say to that, Teyla slipped her arm through his and gently turned him towards the Mess. There would be time enough to toast their dead and sing their names later. For now, Lorne needed to be returned to the living. "So tell me, Major," she said with calculated nonchalance, "what would be an appropriate response in your culture if anyone were to send me a bouquet of roses?"

He grinned. "Well, for starters, don't tell Colonel Sheppard, unless you want to get them KP for the rest of their tour..."


End file.
